"BOLSONARO WAS LITERALLY STABBED ON THE 6TH OF SEPTEMBER BY A LEFT-WING RADICAL..."

-MATT MARSHALL

HEROES OF THE WEST: THE STRONGMAN OF BRAZIL

PUBLISHED: 12th January, 2019 | By MATT MARSHALL

I have spoken once or twice before in my columns on the idea of the “Caesarean Presidency” or “Caesarean Figure”. This is a concept that is best known from (and probably originated with) Oswald Spengler’s book The Decline of the West, and is an argument that in the end stage of a civilization you will get charismatic leaders taking power in an attempt to stem civilizational decline. Donald Trump is certainly one of these leaders, not coming from a traditional political background but still taking control through pure force of personality and his uncanny ability to position himself as the symbol of everything right-wing Americans want for their country. Likewise the election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil is the rise of such a powerful figure. Both Trump and Bolsonaro have the chance to run their country into the ground or pull it up to new heights.

The nation-state of Brazil is one of the older ones in the Western hemisphere, being first claimed as a colony by Portugal in the year 1500. For the next three hundred years, the Portuguese slowly explored the interior, set up sugar plantations, and mined for gold and diamonds. It became the crown jewel of the Portugese Empire, much in the way India was for the British. However as Western Civilization entered the era of the French Revolution, the political winds began to shift and revolutionary sentiment grew. In 1808, the Portuguese royal family and their court fled to Brazil due to Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of the peninsula. Portugal and Brazil quickly became a duel-monarchy in the fashion of Austria-Hungary, and when King John VI returned to Portugal in 1821, his son Dom Pedro stayed behind. In 1822, Brazil separated from the Portuguese Crown as a sovereign monarchy in it’s own right, led by Emperor Pedro I.

Sadly, the monarchy was not to last. The Emperor abdicated in 1931 and an age of rebellions and wars against other South American states began while Emperor Pedro II dedicated his whole life to keeping the Empire together. He was deposed in 1889 by a military coup and thus began a colourful period of more political instability extending into the 20th Century. Of course this time there were Marxists to contend with. To counter the Brazillian Communist Party and other radical leftist groups, the Brazilian Integralist Action and the great statesmen Getulio Vargas rose as opponents. While the former was politically marginalized, Vargas ruled over the country as military dictator from 1930-1945, and then as a democratically elected president after. In 1964 the communists again were threatening to take power, so there was a military coup to establish a Junta.

Brazil became a democracy again in 1985, but immense divisions in its society remain. Like most Latin American states, Brazil’s history as demonstrated in the last two paragraphs is one of political turmoil. Kings and Juntas bring the only temporary order, while revolutionary forces run amok. In a nation which is very racially and ethnically diverse even by American standards, and great wealth disparity exists, a great man is needed to unite any squabbling amongst the society. The crime problem in Brazil is also becoming insane, and there are worries that Brazil might be falling a similar path to Mexico. According to a UNODC study, Brazil had 56,101 homicides in 2017. This is down from 61, 819 murders in 2016. To put this in comparison, USA had 17,250 homicides in 2016. Men are the overwhelming majority of victims, but women also suffer from brutal violence daily. There is also a particular prevalence of human trafficking in the country, modern day slavery for labour and sex leaving a heavy cloud of human misery over certain seedy streets. Prison riots threaten the lives of police, and gangs control a massive narcotics and illegal weapons trade. Ancapistan jokes aside, Brazilian cites make Detroit and Chicago look good.

That is where Jair Bolsonaro comes in. His largest campaign promise was to bring law and order back to Brazil and he the absolute definition of a “tough on crime” politician. Jair Bolsonaro was born in 1955 in Sao Paulo to an Italian-Brazilian family (like I said, they are diverse). Straight out of high school, Bolsonaro joined the Brazilian Army and stayed there for seventeen years, criticizing military budget cuts and serving temporally in the airborne units. In 1988 he became a Rio de Janeiro city councilman and in 1990, he became a federal congressmen with the Christian Democratic Party. After 27 years, joining various political parties and involved with many different political motions, Bolsonaro joined the Social Liberal Party and became their presidential candidate. He ran under the slogan God above all and embraced fiscal libertarianism, stronger police forces, and rooting out corruption in government. Bolsonaro was literally stabbed on the 6th of September by a left-wing radical. But he carried his party to victory in two elections and is now the 38th President of Brazil.

I have to say I like this guy from what I know of him. He is a devout Christian and his military experience is something more professional politicians could benefit from. He supports the military Junta he served under and has praised Augusto Pinochet and Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. This is a man who has no reservations about armed struggle against violent Marxists. When the Brazilian government voted to impeach former President Dilma Rousseff, Bolsonaro dedicated his vote to Brilhante Ustra, a recently deceased military regime official. The guy is a good troll. He is pro-Trump, anti-China and supports other right-wing populists internationally. He is against abortion, gay marriage, and the further secularization of the state. The only policy of his I am somewhat questionable on is his seeming desire to open up the Amazon rainforest to greater agricultural development. But to be fair, I have seen little of his actual comments on the matter and this may be simply the slander of his enemies.

Latin America now has it’s Trump, and he is just as much as a bold and brash, larger than life figure as the President of the United States. Latin America has had a number of strongman throughout its history of independence from Spain and Portugal. Vargas was one of these men, and so is Jair Bolsonaro. Whenever there is a great crisis, great men must rise to the occasion. If they do not, their nation will fall. Their methods are harsh, but the results are unquestionable. The people of Brazil have rejected Marxism, crime, and social collapse with this election. The Brazilian right is celebrating in the streets. The aforementioned Integralist Action was a fascist movement that believed they could unite all the various races and classes of Brazil through a commitment to Christianity and anti-communist patriotism. Perhaps the dreams of this movement, of a great union through strength; will be found in the policies of this new great leader.